1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method. More particularly, the invention relates to an information processing apparatus which can be supplied with required electric power even when part of a plurality of series-connected batteries thereof supplies no electricity and to an information processing method for such an apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an electronic apparatus is provided with user interfaces such as operation buttons, the apparatus can be made easy to operate for a user by assigning a unique purpose to each operation button, e.g., associating the buttons with commands in a one-to-one relationship. However, when a unique purpose is assigned to each operation button, the number of operation buttons increases. Such an approach therefore results in disadvantages in some aspects such as difficulty in making the electronic apparatus compact and increased complicatedness of operations encountered by a user.
In the related art, an optical sensor is sometimes used as a user interface. For example, JP-A-2000-181602 (Patent Document 1) discloses an invention according to which it is determined that an optical sensor has been operated when light radiated from a light emitting portion toward a light receiving portion is interrupted by a user.